Organizations are increasingly focusing on their value chain activities in an effort to improve their performance, especially in the recent economic times. Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their channel activities has become a focal point for many organizations. Interorganizational systems (IOS’s) have played an important part in this effort. While in theory, IOS’s have the ability to enhance the degree of cooperation and coordination between two channel partners, often the results obtained are not what is expected. Hence, it becomes very important to understand the barriers to the assimilation of these technologies. Drawing upon theoretical perspectives of governance, including transaction cost analysis (TCA), control theory and agency theory, we develop an integrative model that examines the factors that influence an organizations assimilation process. The model identifies and examines three stages of assimilation: technological, exploitive and explorative assimilation that add value to an organization. The model features asset specificity, technological uncertainty, performance documentation, agent orientation and bilateral governance mechanisms as antecedents to assimilation. It also examines the moderating effects of bilateral mechanisms. Our results suggest that theories of governance provide an additional lens to examine assimilation phenomena. In specific, our empirical analysis leads to several key findings: (1) channel partners who are locked in to the relationship with high levels of asset specificity are more likely to assimilate the technology; (2) bilateral governance mechanisms are a key force in the assimilation process, with both direct and moderated effects; (3) organizations that view the channel partner as an agent of the firm are less likely to adopt the technology, especially when the relationship exhibits low levels of bilateral governance mechanisms. Together these findings provide new insights into barriers to the assimilation of IOS’s in channel relationships.

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This thesis discusses the financial market model with proportional transaction costs considered in Cvitanic and Karatzas (1996) (hereafter we use CK (1996)). For a modified dual problem introduced by Choulli (2009), I discuss solutions under weaker conditions than those of CK (1996), and furthermore the obtained solutions generalize the examples treated in CK (1996). Then, I consider the exponential utility which does not belong to the family of utility considered by CK (1996) due to the Inada condition. Finally, I elaborate the same results as in CK (1996) for the exponential utility, and I derive other related results using the specificity of the exponential utility function as well. These lead to a different method/approach than CK (1996) for our utility maximization problem, and different notion of admissibility for financial strategies as well. / Mathematical Finance

This thesis explores the mechanics of governance within several layers of participating firms in the global value chain of the automotive industry, and how new forms of governance shape the development of the Brazilian and Chinese automotive industry. In particular, it examines how the local supply firms from Brazil and China can integrate and upgrade in the globalized automotive industry. By using the global value chain (GVC) framework, the changing inter-firm dynamics between buyer and supplier are analyzed, and their impact on the indigenous supply firms from Brazil and China examined. The results highlight the role of product architecture in defining the value chain governance approach. Through the evolution of product architecture, the lead-firms can globalize their approaches to procurement and supply chain management. Moreover, the globally harmonized products allow the lead-firm to effectively restructure the global supply base to establish a globally harmonized components supply industry by internationalizing the most capable supply firms. Oligopolies along the entire GVC are consciously created by the lead firm. The dynamics of competition between supply firms are changing, as the market for integral components with high asset-specificity are merging into one global market with oligopolistic and oligopsonistic features. While some supply firms from the emerging markets have been able to utilize their business ties with western assembly firms to upgrade within the GVC, most are under pressure to be squeezed out of the GVC through increased global competition. The thesis contributes to the field of development studies by analyzing the prospects for emerging market firms to participate and upgrade in the GVC of western lead-firms. Furthermore, it contributes to the economic theory of governance by presenting evidence of forms of influence outside the realm of supplier-buyer contracts. The thesis further extends the global value chain framework by introduction a fine-tuned approach to ‘power’ as a determinant of governance.

Orientador: Bastiaan Philip Reydon / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T16:46:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_AndreiaMara_D.pdf: 3044162 bytes, checksum: 5b4e661c49e0f4646dca3b29bc6c1898 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: A presente tese de doutorado teve como foco apresentar uma proposta de criação de uma instituição gestora para o uso da biodiversidade e dos conhecimentos tradicionais associados à biodiversidade, para as atividades de bioprospecção no Brasil. Para tanto, identificaram-se alguns dos elementos que fazem parte das práticas de bioprospecção, ressaltando as especificidades dos biomas brasileiros e apresentando as peculiaridades dos povos dos conhecimentos tradicionais, indígenas e não indígenas. A tese abordou algumas distinções entre o conhecimento tradicional e o conhecimento científico, tendo em vista que as práticas de bioprospecção envolvem a gestão de acordos que utilizam recursos da biodiversidade, mas também agentes com interesses nem sempre convergentes. Para melhor visualização deste framework, foram apresentadas as características das atividades econômicas da bioprospecção e foram analisados estudos de casos internacionais e do Brasil, com base na Economia dos Custos de Transação aplicados a estes acordos de bioprospecção. Dentro dos casos analisados, identificou-se que há necessidade da criação de instituições intermediárias e de mecanismos pelo governo federal para facilitar a interação entre os agentes. Neste sentido, como resultado, o estudo propõe o desenho de um modelo institucional para a biodiversidade e conhecimentos tradicionais associados para as práticas de bioprospecção no Brasil / Abstract: This doctoral thesis focused on presenting a proposal to establish an institution for managing the use of biodiversity and traditional knowledge associated with biodiversity, bioprospecting activities in Brazil. For this, we identified some of the elements that compose the bioprospecting practices, emphasizing the specificities of Brazilian biomes and explaining the singularities of traditional indigenous and non-indigenous peoples and knowledge. We have also addressed some distinctive features between traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge. All considering that bioprospecting practices involve the management of agreements, which use biodiversity resources, but also agents who not always show converging interests. To provide a better understanding of this framework, we present the characteristics of economic activities related to bioprospection and analyze national and international case studies based on the Transaction Cost Economics applied to these bioprospecting agreements. Based on the cases analyzed, we realized that the Federal Government should create intermediate institutions and mechanisms to facilitate the interaction between the agents. In this regard, and as a result, the study proposes the design of an institutional model for the use of biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge with bioprospecting practices in Brazil / Doutorado / Desenvolvimento Economico, Espaço e Meio Ambiente / Doutora em Desenvolvimento Econômico

The construction industry has been identified with fragmentation, adversarial relationships, opportunism, and high rates of disputes. Therefore, there has been a call for the improvement of inter-firm relations in the sector through more appropriate governance strategies. This study drew upon transaction cost economics theory and new economic sociology in relation to the problem of inter-firm opportunism in economic relations. The study argues that depending on how patterns of inter-firm opportunism are viewed, different governance strategies may be formulated. Through a critical review of the prior publications concerning the problem of opportunism in the sector, the study argues that the construction management literature used theoretical works at both normative and explanatory levels. However, little is known about the construct of inter-firm opportunism itself and how it materialises within the construction industry. Therefore, this study aimed to provide insights into how practitioners in the construction industry conceptualise inter-firm opportunism and its patterns. Such insights extend the knowledge of how they approach governance strategies, and generally why they do what they do. To build a conceptual framework of inter-firm opportunism in the construction industry, this study was guided by a constructivist grounded theory. Rich qualitative data were constructed through 20 semi-structured interviews with practitioners involved in the construction industry who were working in the UK in either construction law firms, construction companies, construction development companies, or construction consultancy firms. The qualitative data were analysed following the Charmaz (2003 and 2006) guideline. In relation to the construct of inter-firm opportunism, the findings of the study indicate that there are considerable variations between the constructs of inter-firm opportunism. However, regardless of these variations, a win-lose relationship feeling is central to practitioners’ construct of inter-firm opportunism. The study argues that in response to the risk of inter-firm opportunism through setting up contractual governance, parties usually conduct a casual cost-benefit trade-off. In relation to the patterns of inter-firm opportunism from the points of view of the practitioners in the sector, the study provides a conceptual framework grounded in the data. This framework places emphasis on the dynamics of different types of power constructed between the client and its first tier suppliers in the pre- and post- contract stages. This framework is the study’s contribution to the body of knowledge concerned with the inter-firm relations in the construction industry.

Major defence projects have a reputation of cost increases, time delays and in some cases not meeting user requirements. The aim of this study was to discover the factors which create the difficulties in UK defence acquisition projects. The dataset used in this research are seventeen, National Audit Office: Value for Money reports of major defence projects. Qualitative Software NVivo 8 was used to organise passages from the reports into categories of factors representing the defence acquisition process. A content analysis method was applied to the categories in order to highlight their quantitative and qualitative significance. A Transaction Cost Economics approach was taken to formulate the research propositions, which were tested using the qualitative content analysis.The fundamental transformation in defence procurement leads to post-contract asset specificity. There is a lack of substitute suppliers in defence procurement due to the high switching costs. There are three reasons given for this development in defence: (1) a legacy of the privatisation policy in the defence industry; (2) ownership transfers of specialised assets under the prime contracting approach and; (3) the transaction-specific investments by the MoD. The prime is able to take advantage of transaction-specific and relation-specific investments in the transaction for future contract tenders, due to the pre-contract asset specificity which results. This sequence of events is identified as the cause of the bilateral dependency condition in defence acquisition.Uncertainty and asset specificity, to a lesser extent, were identified as the major causes of transaction-costs in defence acquisition. These transaction-costs were given as the causes of failures in meeting the value for money criteria of defence projects. The MoD has responded, in recent time, to project failure through a governance trade-off from a traditional market-based transaction towards a bilateral governance approach. A focus of this bilateral governance approach is the application of Smart Acquisition principles and the IPT mechanism (joint MoD-Industry teams). In order to strengthen and support the IPT mechanism it is argued that a relational contracting approach should be taken. Traditional contracting approaches weaken the joint team working, whereas relational contracting applies partnership principles of better communication, cooperation and collaboration.

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Business-to-business relationships within sustained monopolies, such as those within Defence Procurement, have received limited attention by Management Researchers. This is unusual because under these market circumstances typically there appear to be few incentives to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes despite their strategic policy importance. The purpose of this thesis is therefore, to determine the influential relationship factors between the UK Ministry of Defence and its Industrial partners within a predominantly monopolistic Defence Procurement business. The approach adopted for this research project is exploratory and inter-subject area. It uses quantitative and supportive qualitative data to examine the problem through an economic model using Supply Chain Management, Relationship Marketing and Transaction Cost Economics. A self-selected census of 54 business relationships is carried out from both the buyer and supplier perspectives through staff questionnaires and team leader semi-structured interviews. The findings from this research show, contrary to the expectation of the theoretical model, a positive relationship success situation with a spectrum of both positive and negative behavioural factors present. However, a significant adversarial influence is a suite of issues that are endemic to the business in question such as old products, obsolescence, staff and organisational upheavals, poor end-customer visibility and lack of investment in modern procedures and systems. Within the monopoly environment these accentuate managers’ frustrations due to lack of freedom of action. The primary contribution of this research is therefore, an increased understanding of the business-to-business relationship dynamics within long-term, closely coupled, collaborative, business-to-business arrangements as exemplified by UK Defence and the results are likely to be of interest to both academics and managers.